Monday, April 29, 2013

The Devil Is Good for Business

Based on recent surveys, God may
be slowly disappearing from American life, but the Devil is making a
comeback. Several centuries after being
discredited in Salem, Satan has again wormed his way into public consciousness.

As a result, the demand for
exorcists has climbed, too. After all,
someone has to step in to combat Mr. Scratch.
For example, the number of exorcists in Poland has jumped from 4 to more
than 120 in just a few years. In fact,
the Poles now have a monthly magazine devoted to exorcism.

Americans don’t have a magazine,
but do have more exorcists now than ever, according to a published report.

Fr. Posacki and his magazine

Leading politicians have chimed
in, too. Rick Santorum, a former Republican
presidential candidate, told one audience, “Satan [has been] attacking the
great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity and
sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that [have] so deeply
rooted in the American tradition.”

Lucifer, Santorum insisted,
apparently without being aware of the irony of his own role, was planning to
attack politics.

The former U.S. senator is not
the only person to recognize Old Nick’s presence. An estimated 60 percent of Americans,
according to a 2009 study, believe in Belial.
That’s an increase from 1990 when only 55 percent of Americans professed
that belief. At the rate, the Evil One
is garnering attention, he might soon surpass God in the number of believers.

A leading Polish priest had an
answer for the phenomenal popularity of Beelzebub: economics. The fall of the communistic rule of Poland
opened the doors for entrepreneurs, explained Father
Aleksander Posacki, who was identified as a "leading demonologist and
exorcist." He added,
"Capitalism creates more opportunities to do business in the area of
occultism.”

A KISS band member

That
makes sense. The same people who
invented a need for various unnecessary products, such as antiperspirants, are now
creating a need for a Prince of Darkness.

The
band KISS understands that logic.
Supposedly, the initials stand for Knights in Satan’s Service. The letters actually don’t represent
anything. However, band leader Gene
Simmons never corrected the misconception because, he said, “it was good press.”

Chopra

Even
disbelief in El Diablo can create a market.
Dr. Deepak Chopra knows that angle.
He’s written several books on spirituality while rejecting Old Harry’s
presence. "My position is that we have
a huge problem with what people call evil in the world, and they need a good
rational explanation and not an irrational mythical explanation," he said.

In a 2009 televised debate about
the existence of Lucifer, Chopra added that "healthy people do not have
any need for Satan. Healthy people need to confront their own issues,
understand themselves and move towards the direction of compassion, creativity,
understanding, context, insight, inspiration, revelation and understanding that
we are part of an ineffable mystery. …So I would say be done with Satan and
confront your own issues."

Former fundamentalist minister
turned atheist Carlton Pearson agreed.
"I'm from four generations of Demon caster-outers,” he said. “I had tremendous faith in the Devil and his
power and his omnipresence … I have reassessed all of that, and I think that
the best way to get people free is to get them to stop believing so much in
this hairy, horny, freaky, scary, omnipresent entity, and it will not manifest
the way we have believed it to. And that will bring an element of peace."

In addition, Chopra
probably came closest to the reality that the Polish priest recognized: the
Prince of Darkness exists to provide an economic boost.

Geico's gecko

"Unfortunately, there are
religious institutions that have actually idealized guilt and shame and made it
into a virtue," Chopra said. "They have created institutions around
guilt and sin and shame and disgust with our own self. And when we obsess over
these things and we collectively create this obsession then we project it out
there as this mythical figure that we call Satan."

Think of Satan as the ancient counterpart of the AFLAC duck
or the Geico gecko. It’s a marketing
tool. Without an imaginary Wicked One to
kick around, Christianity would be out of business.

Long-time
religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious
history. He also speaks at various
religious organizations throughout Florida.
You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net. He is the author of the famed Unauthorized
Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel
Writers Get Their Information; Noel:
The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols;and Dummies Guide to Comparative
Religion. His books are available on Amazon.com,
Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.
He can also be followed on Twitter.

You
can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at
http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

About Me

During his career, Bill has been a newspaper reporter, magazine writer/editor, advertising copywriter and writer/editor of NASCAR programs, among other jobs. He has won three international awards for stories and programs while working for International Speedway Corp. and was named 2000 Florida Feature Writer of the Year.
He has published four books to date and his writing has appeared in hundreds of local, regional, state and national publications.